How loud will the Wii be?

[infernocs]

Actually the smaller you make a machine the more problematic it is to cool it down, looking at the pics the wii will have a really small fan probably a 40x40mm fan an those need to run at high rpm:s to transfer the hot air out from the chassy and those small fans always make a quite loud sound.

Good news is consoles are usually used in living rooms with the sound cranked up so it won't bother you but if a PC would be as noisy it would be really annoying.

[Ads]

[Icetrash]

I'd say the Wii would be as loud as a boom box.

[IamJacksSmirkingRevenge]

anybody play the wii and can tell us or knows somebody who has???

[Icetrash]

Ok first off the Wii hasent even been released yet, the only people who have played the Wii are the lucky ones who went to E3 (but they cant hear how loud the Wii is because there is to much noise) or if you are a creator of a game. So that was a silly question, but trust me my prediction is going to be right, its going to sound like a boom box.

[Wilko21]

Yeah IamJacksSmirkingRevenge we were all joking. The Wii is going to be so loud it'll cause internal injuries or at least partial defness.

[Icetrash]

something along those lines, yeah

[Flip]

I hear that when you turn the Wii on, everyone in a 10 mile radius goes completely deaf. Also, it can absorb your soul if you lose.

[IamJacksSmirkingRevenge]

ok you wanna nerd things up thats fine but it was a legit question

[Icetrash]

ohhh im "nerding" it up all right.

[teqguy]

The smaller the cpu die manufactuing process(NM) the less heat the processor will give out and the less speed you can run the fan at because it has less heat to deal with so doesnt need to cool as much, and less speed on a fan = less noise,

Actually, the heat transfer coefficient in physics states that:
thermal conductivity = heat flow rate × distance / (area × temperature difference).

Therefore, the reason that die shrinkage aids in reducing the thermal gradient is due to the fact that the surface area in which heat must be dissipated from is reduced, while the surface area and density of the dissipator remains the same.

but since the ps3 chips will be more powerful than the wii's they will create more heat anyway and need good cooling so comparing 90nm(wii) to 65nm
(ps3) in this case dont matter

Both the Wii and PS3 are fabricated on a 90nm die using silicon on insulator processing(which should reduce thermal leakage) to begin with. Both consoles, in addition to the XBox 360 may go to a 65nm fab eventually, provided the yields(how many dies they can fabricate from one 300mm x 300mm wafer) are significantly higher.

If not, it doesn't save them any money and won't be worth the effort.

Actually the smaller you make a machine the more problematic it is to cool it down, looking at the pics the wii will have a really small fan probably a 40x40mm fan an those need to run at high rpm:s to transfer the hot air out from the chassy and those small fans always make a quite loud sound.

Not necessarily.

In the Wii's case, it is designed with thermal efficiency in mind. Therefore, it follows a strict pattern by which all components that generate heat are placed in the line of sight of the ventillation found at the side/bottom and rear of the console.

The processor is most likely lined up with the ventillation port at the bottom of the case, while the GPU is closer to the back, with its heatsink adjacent to the rear fan.

The fan(s) themselves are nearly identical to the one used in the GameCube, except for the fact I mentioned above- they can be throttled down to lower RPMs or even turned off, depending on what the system needs.

Also, the fan's RPM does not always dictate whether or not it will be loud. What creates sound in the first place is wind resistance and mechanical vibrations, which means that if provided correct dampening and given as little resistance as possible, a small fan doesn't need to be loud to do the job.

If you've ever heard the GameCube in action(you'd probably have to put your TV on mute and stand still), then the Wii should not be any different. When in standby mode, however, the system is dead silent.